


He Kills Monsters

by Qwerty_2poynt0



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Acting, Actors, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Platonic Relationships, Theatre, do i tag this as sad?, i guess?, i refuse to accept such a thing, like i guess it's bittersweet?, oh well, so anyway, you cannot tell me Yuya would not be a theater teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-21 05:50:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14909556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qwerty_2poynt0/pseuds/Qwerty_2poynt0
Summary: Aoi had a word for guys like Onizuka; tall, loud, looked like he could suplex a boulder. Yusaku thought Go was... superfluous. Extra, if you will. Go knew he was the best.Everyone in the theater department knows or knows about Go Onizuka. If only someone could actually figure the man out.





	He Kills Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so my first idea for this was 'well, according to the wiki, Go's last name has something to do with ogres, what if I made a fic about Go as an ogre fighting gladiator matches? That sounds fun.' but then I had nowhere to go for that. _However_ I was then reminded by my subconscious that I once said that Yusaku would be one of the techs in the theater department and decided to go off of that instead.  
>  Hope y'all like it~!

   Aoi had a word for guys like Onizuka; tall, loud, looked like he could suplex a boulder. In her mind, she referred to him as the theater department's ogre. Verbally, she didn't refer to him. Or anyone else really.

   He was a half-decent funnyman, had some good pipes, took his roles seriously, and never had to be reminded to cheat out.

   He was also incredibly inflexible.

   "All I'm saying," She said giving him a flat expression, "Is that you could try to not bust out my eardrums."

   "And all I'm saying is that you could try to remember we're supposed to be arguing, not pouting in each-other's general direction." He replied with a dryness he reserved for playing the truly condescending.

   "Alright, both of you, stop." The director interrupted. He hopped up onto the stage and walked up to them after handing his clipboard to Miss Hiiragi. "Okay, Go, you should try to be more considerate of your costar, Aoi's more sensitive than you. And Aoi, try to be a little more expressive, this isn't a play that calls for subtlety."

   "I think you're both doing great!" A voice called from the back of the auditorium. Mr. Sakaki lit up and dropped everything to rush over to his brother.

   "Hugo!" He picked the auto mechanics teacher up off the aisle floor in a hug and set him down. "Do you have the-"

   "Fog machine is fixed and you can have Fujiki back." He waved over to the boy standing a few feet away with the fog machine in question.

   "Perfect! C'mon Yusaku, I need you helping with the bed."

   Yusaku followed the director as the other teacher waved the two of them off, walking out the back door.

   Go leaned over to Aoi. "I'm only trying to keep up the energy you aren't giving."

   Oh really? That's how he wants it?

   "Alright, where were we?" Mr. Sakaki asked after coming back to sit at the front if the house.

   "'Don't you dare try to blame it on me'." Aoi supplied.

   "Yes, take it a few lines before that and remember what I said."

   "I've never been so humiliated in my life!" Aoi lamented girlishly as she resumed Lady Larken's posture, eyes going wide and turning away from 'Sir Harry'.

   "What's the matter?" Go picked up his line.

   "I thought she was a chambermaid!" Aoi spun back around with her whole body.

   "What?" Go looked so flabbergasted Aoi nearly broke character because seeing someone like Go with that expression was particularly hilarious.

   "A chambermaid!" Aoi buried her face in her palms.

   "Larken, how could you? How could you mistake the princess for a chambermaid?"

   Aoi channeled her natural ability to look like she actually wanted to be anywhere into a full-body outrage. "How could  _I?_ How could  _you_ mistake that  _chambermaid_ for a  _Princess?_ _"_  

   "Don't say such a thing." Go ordered firmly, reaching out to place a hand on Aoi's shoulder. "Just because you made a stupid mistake-"

   "I made a mistake?" Aoi smacked his hand away. "Don't you dare try to blame it on me."

   "I  _do_ blame it on you." Go replied testily, squaring his shoulders.

   Suddenly, there was a loud crash from backstage, causing the directors to jump. Aoi felt a strong feeling of respect well up in her subconscious at Go's refusal to break character.

   "We need some help back here!" One of the stage hands shouted.

   "I got it!" Go called over. As he passed her and she relaxed her muscles, he patted Aoi's shoulder. "Nicely done."

   Aoi blinked a moment. She was pretty sure that was the first compliment she'd ever gotten from Go. Which she supposed made sense, she'd only joined the department this year and this was the first time she's co-starred with him but... it felt unreasonably validating. Especially from someone she'd been arguing with two minutes before.

    _Ogres have layers I guess._

   Aoi highkey hated herself for thinking that sentence into existence.   

-+-

   Yusaku thought Go was... superfluous. Extra, if you will. He seemed to think he was competing for everything. Attention, roles, thespian points. And Yusaku had just appeared on his radar because of the stupid decision to audition for In The Heights as an actor instead of just signing up for a spot on crew like he'd done last year.

   Yusaku had always been a tech the whole of freshman year; the guy at the soundboard, the grunt manning the spot, the one painting sets, the dude making props.

   Thanks to aforementioned stupid decision and Sakaki, he was now also Usnavi de la Vega.

   "I still don't understand why-"

   "Yusaku," Hiiragi tried to soothe his agitation, "I know you don't think you're qualified for this-"

   "Damn right I'm not." He muttered. "Give me three good reasons why I shouldn't hand this off to my understudy before the production even starts."

   "Okay then. For one thing, you can really spit fire," She poked his cheek lightly, smiling. "For another, we already know how reliable you are and you have a brilliant memory. And for your third reason," She looked around a second and leaned closer in a conspiratorial whisper. "Since it's Go's senior year, we'll need a new headliner. The program's still pretty small."

   She couldn't be serious.

   "So you're saying you cast me as the main character because you think I'm an adequate substitute for Go Onizuka?"

   Hiiragi chuckled and shook her head. "No, silly, Go would be a terrible Usnavi. He makes a much better Beni anyway. What I'm saying is you both have that... star quality about you. And Yuya wants to develop yours."

   Yusaku wasn't sure how to feel about that. He especially wasn't sure how to feel when he was approached by Go later to go over lines.

   "We have the scripts, so we need to memorize the lines." Was his reasoning. Superfluous.

   "Right now?" Yusaku gave Go an incredulous look.

   Go placed a hand on Yusaku's forearm and looked him dead in the eye.

   "If you aren't going to take this seriously, I'd suggest dropping the role right now."

   Yusaku blinked at Go a few seconds. It was weird, the feeling he got from that sentence, like Go had just built a link between them. Although Yusaku had no idea why, it sounded a whole lot like a threat both in the moment and in hindsight.

   "You're right." Yusaku pulled out his script. "I suppose we start from the beginning?"

   "I like it better with a challenge, we're doing this backwards."

   Yusaku gave Go one of the most expressive faces he had to convey his deep bafflement.

   "But why?"

   Go's face seemed to speak a dare beneath the words he actually said. "I just said, I like a challenge."

   "Any other particular reason?"

   "Why do you ask so many questions?"

   "Because I would like to know; any reasons that make more sense?"

   Go looked... almost impressed? And thought for a moment.

   "Well, since we always block the show from beginning to end, it makes it much easier to have the lines at the beginning down better than the lines end, but if you work backwards, it means you have it down from both ends."

   Yusaku half chuckled. "That... makes no sense."

   Go shrugged. "It works. So I use it. The sooner you have the lines, the sooner you can work on things that make the audience want to keep watching."

   Yusaku thought that was an odd way to phrase it. Then again, he didn't really think of theater the way most of the actors seemed to. People like Go fed off the attention and audience response, but Yusaku was accustomed to thinking of a play as a learning experience rather than a product to be gawked at. Then again, maybe he could learn something from Go.

    _Guess I'll be developing my star quality backwards._

   Yusaku decided not to think too deeply about the peculiarities in that sentence.

-+-

   Go knew he was the best. Others might call it an inflated ego, but he was well aware it was a proper assessment of his abilities and an according self confidence to match. It was knowledge he carried with pride and sought to prove constantly.

   There were many methods he employed to do this such as: auditioning for every single production, attending any and all theater related events, helping with the tech side of productions whenever possible, being president of drama club, and imparting his hard earned wisdom to his underclassmen.

   Which was probably why it was so hard to accept that he was graduating.

   "The seniors can audition for the production class as extra credit," Director Hiiragi informed her theater 4 class, "but if you give us a bad audition when you do, we will give you a bad grade and you will have a lower average because of it."

   Part of him felt a little angry that that the others would get to participate in such a selective class. It may have been a bit unfair of him, but he couldn't shake it and didn't feel like examining it. He just wanted to go through the auditions and get on with it.

   "Hey you, you're staring." Go looked up from his place in the audition line at Yusaku's deadpan remark and saw a redhead (or, partial redhead) with leaf green glasses practically jump out of his skin and sputter out a few flustered noises.

   "I- I didn't- I mean- I wasn't- I was just... I... uhhhhh."

   A shorter kid smacked his shoulder. "Chill, you're embarrassing both of us."

   "Hush your face." The partial redhead took a deep breath and smiled cordially. "Hi, you definitely do not remember me but I saw you in this year's musical? And I just thought you were really cool and I'm already using too many conjunctions I'll stop now. The point is, I... I really liked it and I thought maybe I could do that so now I'm auditioning. Yaaaay."

   "Break a leg." Was all Yusaku said before turning away from him.

   There were some hurried footsteps down the hall and a familiar voice.

   "Ai!" Aoi called, dashing up to the table at the front of the line.

   "Here's your paper, Blue Angel." The tech smirked, handing her an audition form.

   "Thanks and I told you to stop calling me that." Aoi speed walked her way to the back of the line, pulling out the blue pen she used for most important things to fill out the paper. As she walked by him, the partial redhead blinked and his eyes seemed glued to her. He leaned over to his friend and whispered something excitedly that Go didn't catch. He assumed he was talking about Aoi's role of Lady Larken from the year before. Go couldn't begrudge him his excitement over the sophomores, but some part of him felt... kind of bitter anyway.

   "Neeeext~" Ai trilled from his spot manning the door. It was Go's turn. He walked in, handed over the audition form, stood at the marker and finished his slate. He took a deep breath and started his monologue as his bloodstream jumped into overdrive on adrenaline. In a way, this monologue was just him wanting to do something he hadn't ever done before. In another way, it was... strangely cathartic? It felt right to use, even though it was more than a little unconventional for him specifically and he had no idea why he felt the need to use it.

   "Do you want to know what my memories of Tilly are? They're of this little nerdy girl who I never talked to, who I ignored, who I didn't understand because she didn't live in the same world as I did. Her world was filled with evil jello molds and lesbian demon queens and slacker Gods while mine had George Michaels and leg-warmers. I didn't get her. I didn't know her. That breaks my heart. I remember her as a baby, I remember her as this little toddler I loved picking up and holding, but I don't remember her as a teen at all. I'll never get the chance to remember her as an adult. And now all I have left is this stupid piece of paper and this stupid made-up game."

   Go felt kind of light headed after that, it felt like he'd just had four epiphanies in direct succession and didn't know what any of them were. But he went on with the rest of the audition the way he always does everything and left. As Ai called up the next kid, Go gave Yusaku a passing fistbump. It was sort of a ritual with them, though neither could really pinpoint when it became a thing. That redhead was a few spaces back and Go paused next to him.

   "Break a leg."

   The kid seemed shocked to so much as be acknowledged and nodded rapidly. "Uh, th- thanks!"

   As he passed by Aoi who was busy wrapping up her form, he thought back to that monologue. He'd known Aoi and Yusaku since they were freshmen and even though he'd worked with them plenty the two years they'd known each-other, he still wasn't sure he got either of them. And he'd never get the chance to do that now.

    _Am I just angry they'll be killing monsters without me?_

   Whatever it was, he'd definitely miss them.

**Author's Note:**

> A breakdown of theater terminology for those of you who were completely lost:  
> Cheating out \- When an actor doesn't directly look at another character when they're talking to them and instead faces their body primarily toward the audience. Also called opening up.  
> Thespian Points \- Imaginary points you get for participating in, attending, or otherwise being involved with things in the theater. EX: Being a major role in a play is about 5 thespian points, and attending a performance of something is 1 thespian point.  
> Blocking \- Where you're standing and the movements you're making while you're onstage. Whenever you block a scene, you're figuring out where you're standing and what you're doing while lines are happening.  
> Slate \- When you state your name and what monologue/song you'll be performing for an audition.
> 
> And in case anyone was curious: The play that Aoi and Go are doing in the first part is Once Upon A Mattress, if you don't know what In The Heights is you need to get on that and listen to the soundtrack because it's great, and the monologue at the end is from a play called She Kills Monsters which, incidentally, is where the title for the fic comes from~.


End file.
